Famous Five Plus: Happy New Year

Famous Five Plus: Happy New Year: Unbelievable as it may seem, it is the end of not just another month, but another year. It hardly seems a moment ago that we raised our...

Thank you Ruby White for a lovely 5* Review

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read-recommended, 20 Dec 2013

By 

Ruby White - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Foxden Acres (Kindle Edition)

A well written interesting story about life for an educated, country girl during the second world war. Through the eyes of the lead character Bess it covers many aspects of the social changes the war had both personally and on her communities. You come to care about Bess and what's happening in her life, family, friends, work and the challenges war brings.

This is not a genre of book I would normally read but this one was recommended. I am happy to say I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it and I look forward to reading about the sisters of Bess in the sequel books. Foxden Acres

 

 

Foxden Acres in Hunt's Independent Book Shop.

 

 

Hunt's Independent Book Shop

9 High Street, Rugby (next door to Country Casuals)

 

hunts.books@gmail.com

  

 

               Having a laugh with Kelvin

Foxden Acres prominently displayed in 

 

Hunt's Independent Book Shop 

                                                                   

 

Kelvin and author of, The Forgiving Sand

my friend,Theresa Le Flem

 

 

 

After all that fun we needed to relax with coffee

  

 

Cheers Theresa! 

Theresa and me in Summersaults Restaurant.  

 

What fun we had. We are both up to our eyes in our current novels, so it was great to compared notes and bounce ideas off each other.  For me, after a really full-on couple of months of rewriting and editing, it was wonderful to take a little time out and relax.  And, as my friend Theresa said, "The lonely hours we both spend typing away…as well as reading, researching, editing…is enough to give anyone the appetite for a delicious cappuccino and cherry scone or two!"

 

Afterwards I did a little retail therapy and

 by the time I got home, I felt as if I'd had a weekend away. 

 

 

Other photographs taken that morning

 

 

Theresa buying a copy of Foxden Acres

  

 

Theresa with her novel, The Forgiving Sand

         

Theresa Le Flem  author of,   "The Sea Inside His Head"  and 

         "The Forgiving Sand"  both published by Robert Hale Ltd  

         Website: http://theresaleflem.wordpress.com

         Member of the Romantic Novelists' Assoc. & The Society of Authors

         

 

 

The BookStop Cafe, Lincoln, has just sold another copy of Foxden Acres!

Today November 11th 2013.

Joff Gainey mentioned you in a post in BookStop Cafe - Lincoln
Joff Gainey on 11 November 13:09

Just sold a copy of Madalyn Morgans Foxden Acres! 

"More copies of you book required at BookStop Cafe.

If you are able to post six more that would be great."

 

It would be my pleasure.  They're in the post.

Famous Five Plus: HUG A BOOK - Foxden Acres with Madalyn Morgan

Famous Five Plus: HUG A BOOK with Madalyn Morgan: Hug A Book  is sponsored by Volkan-Watches It’s HUG A BOOK and this weekend it’s with  Madalyn Morgan And You could win a...

5 stars "Impressive debut" from Roger Wood, 29 Oct 2013

My sincere thanks to Roger Wood for a wonderful review.  Roger not only enjoyed Foxden Acres, he understood me as a writer.  He talks about the right amount of dialogue and prose, research being stitched into the narrative so it doesn't spoil the reading experience, and not seeing the final twist at the end.  All that, and he didn't give the game away.   

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive debut, 29 Oct 2013

By 

R. Wood - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

 

This review is from: Foxden Acres (Kindle Edition)

An impressive first novel. The dialogue struck the right note and the prose slipped smoothly along. With debut period novels I often find the research remains obvious rather than being stitched in to the narrative. Madalyn Morgan avoided that trap. The research is there, so you can read with confidence, but it doesn't stick out and disrupt the reading experience. I liked the story and didn't see the final twist coming. Recommended.

Excerpt - Foxden Acres

An excerpt from Chapter One

 

In the worst case, Bess wouldn’t find the missing book and would have to take a later train. In the best case, she’d find it and see James Foxden. Then to hell with the train, she laughed. As she neared the Hall, her heart began to beat faster.
     To her relief she found the book immediately. It had slipped between the seat-cushion and the backrest of the window-seat on New Year’s Eve. She had finished reading it and put it down to look out of the window, as she was doing now, and – her stomach turned a somersault – James was in the courtyard standing by his car.
     She scrambled onto the seat and watched him walk from the car to the house. Within seconds, he was back carrying an assortment of cases, which he strapped on the back of his car. He returned to the house as a young maid came out carrying a tartan blanket. The maid went to the passenger door of the car, opened it and, leaning in, wrapped the blanket around someone’s legs. Bess leaned closer to the window. It was James’ beautiful dance partner, from the New Year party.
     ‘Caught you,’ James said, looking over her shoulder to see what it was that had captured her attention so fully.
     Bess shrieked.
     ‘Sorry if I made you jump but I wanted to catch you before I left. I’m driving Annabel home to Kent but I’ll be in London tomorrow and I was thinking that, since we're both down there, perhaps we could meet up… I could telephone you and…?’
     Bess opened her mouth, but couldn’t speak. There was no public telephone at her lodgings and Mrs McAllister, her landlady, didn’t allow her tenants to make or accept calls on her private telephone unless it was an emergency. Nor did she approve of them having gentlemen friends.
     ‘But if you would rather I didn’t call,’ James said.
     ‘No, it isn’t that-- It’s my landlady,’ she said feeling an utter innocent and a fool.
     ‘Then I’ll give you my card and if you have a free evening you can call me. We could meet in town, see a show and have a bite of supper. Go to a dance at the Lyceum or the Trocadero.’
     Bess accepted the small card. ‘I’d like that.’
     ‘See you in London, then!’ Smiling, James offered Bess his hand.
     ‘Yes… London,’ she said, taking his hand.
     ‘Goodbye.’
     By the time she’d formulated the word ‘goodbye’, James had left. She heard his car start up. She ran to the window overlooking the drive as the small green sports car, enveloped in a cloud of exhaust smoke, disappeared down the drive.
     Bess stood in the empty library for some minutes. Did James Foxden invite her, Bess Dudley, to supper in London? Did he, or did she imagine that he held her hand for a little longer than was necessary when he said goodbye? Well, maybe she did imagine that, but one thing she did not imagine was the small white business card with James’s name and telephone number, which she was holding in her hand.
     Before she burst with excitement, Bess put the card between the pages of her book and ran home.

Famous Five Plus Author Showcase Video - September 2013

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Foxden Acres by Madalyn Morgan